One of the main reasons physicians insist on early dental restorations for missing teeth is the subsequent bone loss from delayed intervention. If you do not replace your missing teeth in time, the underlying periodontal tissue will decrease volume. The result is insufficient jaw tissue, a condition that may affect the integrity of surrounding teeth. Patients with inadequate periodontal tissue require Monterey bone grafting to add volume to the jaw to support teeth restorations like dental implants.
What are dental bone grafts?
If your doctor reviews your symptoms and suspects bone loss, the initial treatment approach would be to perform vine grafting, a procedure to increase the volume of the underlying jaw and thus improve periodontal wellness to support teeth.
Physicians implement autogenous techniques that involve harvesting bone grafting material from the patient’s body. Some patients require donor grafts that physicians harvest from a tissue bank, called allografts.
A xenograft is a bone graft whose source is an animal tissue bank. There are also synthetic bone grafts that doctors use called alloplasts.
How does a dental graft work?
A bone graft is an essential part of teeth restorations because they hold the space of lost periodontal tissue in the bone and thus supports dental repair. Your physician will use these scaffolds to stimulate tissue growth and regeneration, necessary for improved oral health. Most times, dentists incorporate platelet-rich plasma during bone grafting to improve treatment efficacy by promoting faster healing. The great thing about plasma-rich plasma is dentists will need to draw the patient’s blood to develop the serum.
Who needs dental bone grafts?
If you have missing teeth, your gums are vulnerable to tissue loss, which physicians manage by recommending bone grafts. Dental bone grafts are ideal for you if:
- You have undergone a tooth extraction.
- You are considering dental implant restorations for your missing teeth
- You want to get dentures but need to rebuild your jaw
- You have gum disease that is causing bone loss.
What are the main types of dental bone grafts?
There are various types of dental bone grafts that dentists recommend to patients depending on the severity of oral concerns and desired outcomes. The following are the four main types of dental bone grafts:
- Socket preservation: This type of dental bone graft is perfect for patients who have just completed a tooth extraction. Dentists usually place these grafts in the sockets to prevent them from caving in and potentially affecting surrounding teeth.
- Ridge augmentation: These dental grafts are for patients who have had missing teeth for a while, a situation that may have caused the jaw to become thinner. Ridge augmentation is a procedure to thicken the supportive jaw tissue necessary for dental restoration procedures like implants.
- Sinus lift: Patients whose upper back teeth are missing require a maxillary sinus lift to raise the sinus to a proper position.
- Periodontal bone graft: Patients should appreciate the significance of maintaining proper oral health to prevent infection from invading the mouth and interfering with gum health causing the teeth to become loose.
Contact Perio & Implant Centers of Monterey Bay – Silicon Valley to inquire about the available dental bone grafts that can restore integrity to your jaw and strengthen your teeth.
